Smoky Mountains

Rebecca recommended that we stay in Townsend, Tennessee rather than the more touristy Gatlinburg. On our way to Townsend we stopped at a laundromat to do a much needed load. I have never actually used a laundromat if you can believe that. I found a way to avoid using the laundry room in the freshman doors in college too. So I took this picture to remind me of the moment. Seth was the laundromat expert. He used one almost every week on his mission. We started our load and then watched a movie on our laptop.

Townsend was beautiful. We had a porch on the back of our room that allowed us to look up at the Smoky Mountains. Believe it or not there is no entrance free for this National Park. We drove in that night and drove around Cades Cove. Cades Cove is a popular loop that becomes very popular at night when the wildlife is out.





We hiked up to a waterfall. The humidty nearly killed us. We decided that people in the South may be "larger" because even standing outside you sweat and feel like you have been working out. Warning: If I look bad in any pictures from this point forward...I get to blame it on the humidity.







We were two of the last people to hike in and were able to enjoy the waterfalls without any other tourists. It was breathtaking.




Once we got back on the road we found that Cades Cove had become a very popular spot. The traffic was literally bumper to bumper.


So we cut across the park and took a “side” road back to the hotel.






It felt like we were driving in circles on this dirt road. Seth took the picture below to show just how dark it was. It was the perfect set up for a scary movie. I was starting to think we would be stranded all night but we made it back safely.

The next morning we continued our journey in the park.

We spotted a bear in the woods. By the time we turned around and parked it was gone. I swear it was in this patch of trees.


We hiked up to Laurel Falls next. These Falls were much more populated. The trail was paved so there were lots of families out hiking. The picture below is of the upper falls.

This picture is of the lower falls which were less crowded.






We drove up to the summit and hiked up to Clingmans Dome. This trail was also paved. They had a trail that lead off to the Appalachian trail also. We saw several backpackers heading off in that direction. It may be something we consider in the future. The views from Clingmans Dome were beautiful. We got our first views of North Carolina.




We loved the Smoky Mountains!

Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Our next stop was Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Home of Rebecca one of my mom’s dearest friends. Rebecca was sweet enough to meet as at Panara Bread Company for lunch. She talked to us all about Tennessee and gave us some great recommendations for the remainder of the trip. We bumped into her again when we stopped at the Walmart for a few picnic supplies.

Memphis, Tennessee

We had planned to continue to Clemson right after Nashville but found out we couldn’t get into our new place so we decided to continue sightseeing and extend our trip. So on July 27th, after spending the day in Nashville we drove on to Memphis. We ordered a huge dinner at Marlowe’s and enjoyed a little Memphis BBQ. We got the pulled pork, beef brisquet, ribs, and bbq chicken. It was good…but we still think that Pat’s in Salt Lake is better. It was fun to see all of the Elvis memorabilia. Under the glass on our table was the newspaper from the day after the King died.

The next morning we woke up and walked through the Folklore Museum and the Belz Museum. The Belz museum was filled with treasures from the orient. My favorite items were the carved ivory statues.

Next we stopped at the Rock n Soul museum. The music history in Memphis is amazing. We got an audio tour and enjoyed every minute of it.

We walked to the Gibson guitar factory. We didn’t take a tour but we did enjoy the gift shop.

We strolled up to Beale street next and then continued on our journey to the Civil Rights Museum.

I had no idea that they had turned the Lorainne hotel into a museum. It was a huge museum. If I ever go back I will do an audio tour. There was a lot of information and it was slightly overwhelming.

We hopped on a street car and rode to where our car was parked. We had not eaten breakfast or lunch so we were famished. It was after three pm.

We planned to visit Graceland next. We drove all the way out there, parked, and walked into the ticket office. The power was out so they had stopped all mansion tours. We stuck around until the power came back on but by then tons of people were in line waiting for a refund and the ticketing machines were still down. Graceland will have to wait until our next trip to Memphis.